1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an instructional and exercise aid for dancers, more particularly an improved ballet barre assembly which may be deployed across a room.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Exercise rooms in dance studios are most frequently multi-purpose rooms most notably for teaching ballet. Dance studios traditionally have bars, known as ballet barres, mounted along the wall for enabling ballet dancers to perform special exercises. These ballet barres are usually supported about one foot from the wall and may be fairly lengthy. Multiple ballet barres in vertical arrangement may be employed so that children of different age classes and height can use the one most appropriate for their size. Proper use of a ballet barre requires only a light touch to allow the dancer to maintain perfect balance during exercise movements. The barre is not supposed to be a support since the object is to teach the student how to center their own weight and be able to balance in a number of positions. Conventional barres that are anchored to the wall like concrete have very little or no give at all. Students can't tell when they're leaning too heavily on the barre.
The art recognizes that ballet barres extending from the wall undesirably encroach upon the available room space. U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,944 by Finch illustrates a folding ballet barre which can be folded flat against the wall to solve this problem. It is mounted with brackets to the wall surface and may be manually lifted and placed in another wall bracket to incrementally change the elevation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,307 by Stevenson discloses a ballet barre which is removably attached to the wall by means of suction cups. U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,510 by Kravitz discloses a portable ballet barre which is fastened to the floor by means of cantilevered legs having suction cups at their extremities. The portable device may be disassembled or removed from the room and stored so that the room can be used for other purposes.